Made of Gopher
by TechnoDee
Summary: Meta Knight wakes up with little to no recollection of what he had been doing last. This leads to a chain of events that results in him and the other three having to save the world again, the only difference being that this world-saving method is far worse than any other.
1. Chapter 1

Meta Knight opened his eyes. White ceiling. Sounds of sniffing.

"Huh… Sir Meta Knight?"

His head was throbbing.

"W-What do you mean, 'huh, Meta'— _Meta_?!"

He squinted. Kirby..?

"Looks like it worked. He's awake."

Groggily, he pushed himself up with his hands. He stumbled, but before he could fall back down, someone gripped his arm and steadied him, helping him sit up. It was still blurry, but when Meta Knight looked in their direction, he found an orange blob.

More sniffing. "So, it worked, huh… it worked, huh..!"

"Stop crying. You said you wouldn't."

"Waaaaaaaaah!"

Loud… was that Kirby? He was crying? Why was he…

"Sir Meta Knight, how are you feeling?" Awful. "There's a glass of water over there… do you need it? Actually, we should get the doctor, shouldn't we?"

"Go and call him, Kirby."

"No way! Right after he woke up?!"

Meta Knight's vision slowly became clear. Bandana Dee holding his arm and fumbling for the plastic cup on the table next to the bed, Kirby was rubbing at his eyes furiously, and Dedede was next to the pink puffball, eyes looking suspiciously wet.

The mattress was hard but the sheets were fluffy. The room was completely white—or, at least, it appeared to originally be. It seemed like the paint was scraping in the corners, revealing the brownish bricks behind. With the floor tilted an equal white, it was _way_ too bright. Giving him a headache.

What was he even doing..? Why was he there? He couldn't recall what he had last been doing. No, he did—but it didn't match up. The last thing he remembered was being alone in one of the courtyards in the castle—how did he end up… _there_?

The more he thought about it, the more his head ached.

"You took a bad hit," Bandana Dee said, holding the cup of water out. Meta Knight wanted to speak, but his throat was so dry his voice wasn't coming through. He took the cup, and stared at the clear liquid inside. "It's water, really. You were attacked on the head. The wound's been treated and I think it's completely gone, but you were out for a while. As in, a few days."

"You _died_!" Kirby wailed, tears pouring out at an abnormal rate.

"W-Watch it! That's my floor!" ...And it looked like Dedede's were too, to some extent.

"No, he didn't," Bandana Dee corrected, "he was unconscious."

Meta Knight took a gulp of the water. It tasted sweet to his dry mouth, and the whole cup's contents was gone in a few seconds. He placed the cup down again, and Bandana Dee eagerly took it and put it back on the table.

An attack hard enough to cause _him_ , of all people, to go unconscious, and also lose his memory, to some degree. A concussion? A _bad_ one, possibly. There was a chance that he was taken by complete surprise, which was unlikely. He had years of training. Decades, even. At the very least, he would've sensed another presence. But he was sure he was alone in the courtyard. That made the concussion theory even more plausible… it had been quick enough to put him out of commission like that, and also quick enough to take him off guard—or maybe they had fought. Maybe it was just something he wasn't remembering.

He leaned forward. All the thinking was making his head hurt, somehow. It was a nuisance, given how thinking was pretty much his forte.

"Was I fighting it?" Meta Knight asked, looking in Bandana Dee's direction. Bandana Dee only blinked, then looked at Kirby.

The pink puffball looked at the sheets on the bed, eyes lidded from the sobbing. "I dunno—I just saw it smack you on the head, and then I ran over, but it…"

Kirby trailed off. Meta Knight prodded, "It..?"

Kirby looked uncertain. "It disappeared."

Meta Knight blinked. "...Pardon?"

"I know! I wanted to beat it up for beating _you_ up like that, but…" Kirby plainly averted his gaze to the wall, "...it, kinda just, teleported away. Like it was never there. And I stayed there for a few more minutes, making sure the wound wasn't… bleeding out too much."

"In the castle courtyard?"

"Yeah, in the castle courtyard. After that, some waddle dees found us and went to get the doctor. Then they dragged you all the way to this room. The doctor tried a lot of stuff, but you wouldn't wake up."

So he was attacked, and assaulted that badly… but the offender ran away the moment Kirby showed up? That was a lot to take in. Was their goal to just take _him_ out? What was the point in that? Sure, he prided himself as a skilled knight, but as much as he didn't like to admit it, Kirby was far more deadly and versatile in combat. Maybe they wanted to take them out one by one. Although none of the others were attacked, so that wouldn't be explained with that theory…

Meta Knight sighed and pressed a hand to his face. It felt cold. It all sounded urgent and he wanted to think through it deeply, but he just felt so tired he wanted to go and sleep. He didn't have the _time_ to rest, though. Why him? These sort of news needed to be tended to immediately, or else—

...His face?

It was… his face.

He probably paled. "Where's my mask?"

"Took it away." Surprisingly, it was Dedede who answered. "Doc said you might suffocate or something. Just for good measure, or something. Kept it in the office for safekeeping."

"Uh… right." He suddenly felt very self-conscious.

Kirby stopped snivelling and beamed at him. "Oh, then I'll go help you get it later! Right now you shouldn't move around that much, though. Dedede! Get the doc!"

"I'm not your servant, and you're not a doctor."

"Well, being a doctor is just one of my specialties. I can also be a clown, a cowboy, or a swordmaster, you know, and a lot of other stuff too!"

Kirby's sudden mood swing might've been giving Meta Knight whiplash.

As if there had been a cue to leave, Bandana Dee stood up, and Kirby jumped to his feet as well, Dedede following seconds later. Meta Knight's eyes trailed after them as they began to turn to leave. Were they in a hurry? Probably to get the doctor. He would've done that, too, personally.

Was there anymore water? He was getting thirsty again. He glanced over at the side where Bandana Dee had left the empty plastic cup, and his hopes were dampened when he didn't find any sort of water dispenser there, or even just a jug. There wasn't anything, actually; just an out-of-place-looking table next to his bed. It was a relatively small room, and he recalled there wasn't anything but some space and the wall to the right. Maybe it was just a spare room and not a room specialised for patients.

Behind the table and against the wall, there was something large and draped over lazily with a long, yellow cloth. Like how scientists would drape their inventions over with a cloth before whisking it off and introducing their latest disaster-inducing machine. To make matters worse, Meta Knight could see a little bit of dented metal exposed where the yellow cloth wasn't covering it.

He wasn't sure what to think of being shoved into a spare room instead of a proper ward, but he was better, so he wasn't arguing.

"See you, Meta! Go and sleep," Kirby chirped, opening the door. The hallway outside was empty.

"We'll get the doctor," Bandana Dee promised.

"An' your mask," Dedede added, then he shut the door close.

Meta Knight thought he might have wanted to say something to them before they left—thank you, or something, pretty much anything—but he found he didn't know the words, so he was left staring at the white, peeling wall in front of him.

* * *

The doctor turned out to be a very smart waddle dee.

"Constant throbbing of the head, but that's it," he said, spinning a pen.

Meta Knight nodded.

"And no external injuries. At the moment. Huuuuuh."

"Did the wound heal fast?"

The doctor nodded, scribbling something on a sheet of paper on a clipboard. Was there anything to record, though? "Somewhat. We did treat it, but I didn't expect it to disappear in that amount of time. I chalked it up to being a species-thing. Or maybe the wound wasn't as bad as it looked. You _are_ the same species as Kirby, yes?"

Oh, that… that question was asked a _lot_. Especially once anyone had seen him with his mask off. Currently, his mask was on, but the doctor must've seen him while he was still out cold, and he probably took in the striking resemblance he had from Kirby there. Unsurprising.

Meta Knight turned his head to the side and stared at the table. "Probably. Our species has numerous variations to it, so we're born with different properties, but similar appearances." Meta Knight didn't know a "different property" of his had been accelerated healing, but he wasn't entirely surprised, seeing as how he didn't have any superpower like Kirby's inhalation. He didn't think that intelligence and sword mastery counted as superpowers.

"That would make sense." The doctor didn't write it down. "I don't suppose they're native to Pop Star."

"They may have settled down somewhere in Pop Star. We have shared traits that allow us to traverse the galaxy easily, which is how both Kirby and I ended up here, likely, such as—"

"Hold it, I'm not _that_ interested to hear," the doctor huffed, raising a hand. "Just making small conversation. I see that you're better, at least. With how you are right now, I guess it'll be fine to discharge you tomorrow. Unless you're still feeling ill or weak? The headaches don't sound threatening, but I can prescribe you some pills."

He could be discharged from a room that didn't even look like a proper ward? Surprising. He should ask about that, too. "No, it's just the headaches. I'd like to leave as quickly as possible, if you don't mind. My crew is probably worried."

The doctor snorted. "Oh, they are. They've been visiting the castle every other day to ask how you're doing. They just visited yesterday, though, so they probably won't come today. Good, loyal bunch you got yourself there." Then he spun on his chair and began scribbling lines down like he actually had something to report. Meta Knight thought their conversation hadn't told them much. Or maybe the doctor was making notes on other things: his stability of voice, his appearance, or anything else that would speak about his condition.

So the crew had been paying him visits quite frequently… somehow, hearing that, Meta Knight was relieved. He never doubted their loyalty, but strange things happened when the opportunity presented itself. Maybe it was also because they didn't know how to fully run the Halberd. The more he thought about it, the less he thought that it mattered. Things would return to normal after a while; there was no need to worry.

"All righty, then," the doctor said, standing up and out of his seat. Meta Knight looked up at him. "I'll go get the pills and maybe some water. If you need anything, just yell. Pretty sure there'll be at least someone in the hallway."

"Right. Thank you." Maybe Meta Knight should've mentioned he wasn't into the pill-popping habit, but he'd keep them just in case the headache got too hard to handle. Taking one or two if the situation was dire was acceptable.

The doctor left, leaving the door ajar. Meta Knight sunk down further into the bed and glanced up at the ceiling.

The whole situation was a mystery. From how he couldn't even remember the last few bits of what had happened before he was knocked out, to Kirby's account of the assaulter disappearing… thinking about it, Kirby never described its appearance. Well, he could ask about it later. But if Kirby didn't mention its species, he probably didn't know what it was, either. Kirby didn't read into books very much, but since he faced the same monsters over and over again, at least he'd know their names.

Maybe there had been more witnesses. ...Unlikely. He knew that. But he still wanted to try—he barely knew anything about the situation. He could always clarify with Kirby later, and he would, but from how the story was told it was like Kirby had only seen the ending bit of it. Maybe there had been someone who had seen the entire situation, even before the _thing_ had appeared. That would shed more light on the situation.

Meta Knight was barely in the castle at all, and he didn't really have an affiliation with it, so the only times he really visited was when he had some actual business to attend to as a knight that the king requested, which was uncommon on its own. Dedede probably wouldn't mind if he wandered around in the castle for the next few days, asking around for information. Even though he made blunders pretty often, Dedede would be concerned about it, too. He knew his responsibilities.

He heard close footsteps outside. His head immediately shot up to the door.

A waddle dee stood outside the room, peering inside with a blank expression. Pretty much everything was peculiar about it; the beige blush usually on the cheeks of a waddle dee was dark blue and splotchy, like it had been painted over. Most waddle dees in the castle were armed with spears, but this one had a large bow on its back with a quiver.

After a few seconds, it turned and walked away.

...Who was that? Meta Knight would've remembered such a unique waddle dee if he had seen one. He didn't.

Before he knew it, another waddle dee was walking into the room. It was the doctor, holding a bottle and the clipboard again.

"Here, your pills. They're just for headaches, so they're nothing special. If you get a migraine or something later on in your life you can still use them as long as they're not expired." The doctor placed the bottle on the table. It was full of white-and-red capsules. "Dropped by the kitchen and asked them if they could deliver a jug of warm water up to you, too."

"Oh. Thanks."

"Just my job. I'm charging you for it, unless the king wants to up my salary for you."

He better, Meta Knight thought sourly, with all the injustice that had been pushed on him when he was fulfilling the king's requests.

"Anything else?"

The doctor looked like he was ready to leave. Meta Knight felt bad for asking, but he clenched his fists and steeled himself. Kirby had made fun of him for being paranoid in social situations and it was true.

"Two more things, if you don't mind. It's unrelated to my condition, however."

"Oh, yeah, sure, whatever. Ask away."

The doctor looked nonchalant about it, at least.

"This isn't a ward, is it? Or wherever you put the sick patients or minions. It doesn't look like one. If it were there'd be several other beds. Rooms with only one bed would normally be an intensive care unit, but there isn't any such equipment that would belong in one here."

"Oh, that." The doctor shrugged. "We only have a few wards, as you call it, because the minions don't normally get badly injured or sick. If they do, there are some minion-run clinics in the underground living area, anyway. Recently there was a wave of diarrhoea or something, so a lot of slots got taken up and there was a lot of moving in and out. The king said he didn't want your environment to be changed too much, so we put you in this hole here. You didn't need much support, anyway. You just weren't waking up."

Well, that cleared his doubts—it was a random room and there was a high chance of it being a random storage room as well, hence the random machine that was in there for no apparent reason. And it was too small to be a proper ward, anyway.

"I see. One more thing, then." The doctor tilted his head. "While you were gone, a strange waddle dee passed by. They had blue cheeks and a bow. They didn't say anything, though. They just stopped to look and then continued walking." By now, he was just satisfying his own curiosity. He felt like he was intruding, but he'd never know if he didn't try.

The doctor blinked. "Strange dee with blue cheeks and a bow? Probably Ody or Yanne." He looked up at the ceiling, then back down. "They're hunters. They're not minions but they take on a lot of quests and sell meat to the castle, so they're in here pretty often."

"Is that so."

"Yes, it is, and you don't have to say that just to sound mysterious, okay? Anyway, I'm leaving now. If anything happens, I'll probably be busy so call someone else."

The doctor shut the door without even a proper farewell or a wave of the hand. Meta Knight had always felt like he was unwelcome in the castle, and he knew that he probably was, given how he behaved in the past. Well, _that_ would probably explain the weird waddle dee staring at him from outside the door just now. He knew he planned on asking around, but now that he thought about it, his reputation would probably get in the way of getting honest answers, too.

...No—he'd have to _swallow his stubborn pride_ , like Kirby had once said. Above everything else, he was a knight, and protecting people was more or less his duty, even if that definition had been lost long ago.

He waited for a few minutes, made sure there were no footsteps outside, then jumped out of bed and scurried out of the room before he could get caught.

* * *

 **6 Nov 2017**

I, for one, am upset with myself. So I said, "So this is going to be a story where I _don't_ let my OCs run loose and focus more on canon characters—" you can see how well _that_ turned out with the second half of the chapter. Don't worry if you're not here for my lovable children, though, since the main plot centres around the quartet, so in the end, you'll be seeing them most often.

Anyway! Anyone who's read my other stories will know I'm not terribly fond of writing this whole, go-on-an-adventure, save-the-world kind of story. And I'm still not. Well, we all have to try at things in life and traumitise a few people here and there before we can acknowledge the fact that we should never do it again. Also, for the first few chapters or even more, I don't even plan on having much adventure/action...

Don't expect epic battle scenes either. Don't. Please don't. Just don't. Just—

Also, it's Meta Knight as the MC again. This story is flexible and I could've picked any of the main quartet to be the MC, actually. I crossed Kirby and Bandana Dee out because I've already focused a lot on them. That leaves MK and DDD. In the end, Meta took the spot because 1. LTtR did him _no_ justice and I'm still so sorry about that 2. I already wrote _The Vault in the Castle_ for Dedede and 3. it is most fun to break the characters that are usually unbreakable.

Hm? Did I say something weird? Something about breaking—oh, look, what a cute bunny! Oh, something about characters? Wasn't me. Nooooooope. Wasn't me. You're misreading things, right?

Take note this takes place in gameverse, just like how all my other fics do. So if you're unfamiliar with the background of the games, you may not understand some references/situations and find it confusing at times. You're still welcome to read, though! I _love_ confusing people!

Ugh... first A/Ns always have to be long because I have to explain a lot of things. Knowing me I've also probably forgotten to mention something important here. Oh, well. Have fun reading! Or maybe not.


	2. Chapter 2

It might've been a mistake, Meta Knight thought to himself bitterly. He didn't know the interior of the castle well at all, even though he was sure to memorise its structure before attempting to take over Dream Land that one time. ...Or few times. Kirby thwarted all of his plans anyway.

So far, he hadn't run into anybody. Not a single dee, even though they were known for being littered on every floor. They weren't all… skiving at the same time and throwing a big party somewhere, right? He knew that there was a giant underground area to the castle that was more or less a maze. It _wasn't_ some off day for them, was it? If it was, he snuck out at an awful time and he'd look so tragic just bumbling back with nothing gained.

Another staircase. He'd only descended one just now. It felt like there were insects tenderly gnawing at his head, if that somehow made any sense, but he had to remember how many floors he was down so he could get back up. If he had any intention of not getting caught, at least. He could also sacrifice some of his dignity and just let someone drag him all the way back up there. It was also an option.

There was nobody on the floor below. Nobody responsive. He found two waddle dees standing outside wooden double doors, armed with spears and staring at the wall opposite them unblinkingly. Meta Knight tried to call out to them—even in their own waddle dee language, since not all of them had learned the language most Dream Landers adopted—but they just continued with their statue act. Meta Knight even sidled up to them, reached out with a finger and poked them just to make sure they weren't actual statues. His finger sunk into the flesh.

What a bunch of polite minions Dedede had. Like king, like minion.

Meta Knight was halfway down the next staircase when another wave pulsed through his head. He fumbled at the sudden twinge of pain, leaning against the wall and reaching up to rub his temples. What exactly was this..? The blood pumping through his head was painfully matching his own heartbeat. It felt like he'd been hanging upside down, tied by the foot, for hours too long and all the liquids had obediently followed the course of gravity.

He slanted off the wall and tried to stand independently. His body rocked from side to side like a tree being blown in a hurricane, so he leaned back against the wall, sucked in his saliva, gripped the railings since his balance depended on it, and felt for the next step with his feet.

Even if it was dodgy, he should've taken that _drug_ the doctor gave him, since resting on the floor was not an option.

He continued with his slow pace all the way down to the bottom of the flight, teetered on his feet a bit, then continued rubbing his face against the wall and angling his head so his mask wouldn't screech along it. With sluggish steps. He wanted to go back up and sleep.

"You're walking like an idiot."

Meta Knight's shoulders jolted forward, and his right hand swiped at his hip to grab Galaxia—he didn't have it. He spun on his heels, mind somehow back on high alert, acutely aware of the fact he had neither his sword nor his Dimensional Cape with him. In the green-coloured hallway, the white room contrasted brightly against it.

"Ever wary of anyone in the castle, aren't you? No surprise there. You tried to wreck us all once, after all."

He was pretty sure he'd never seen a crooked smile waddle doo-style before that minute in his entire life.

"Danzi," Meta Knight muttered darkly.

Oh, no, he had seen that sort of smile on a waddle doo before. It was only ever on the same waddle doo, though.

"Didn't know you're feeling well enough to be up and about already," the waddle doo drawled. "Might explain why you're not even walking straight."

"You certainly know your symptoms well," Meta Knight said, dry tone natural.

"Of course I do. The ones who are the most acquainted with illnesses and deaths are the minions, after all."

The insides of the machines spun. It was in an odd location, in the middle of the hallway, although they were likely on a lower floor where the common rooms were placed so it wasn't an outright shock to Meta Knight. Better questions could be asked: like why all the other minions were missing, but this hairless waddle doo was sitting at the table in the laundromat by himself, cheek supported by a hand and the other hand sprawled on the table lazily.

Meta Knight almost never went into the castle, but that didn't mean he _never_ went in there. He did, occasionally, and he had had luck bad enough to chance upon this foreign waddle doo: _Danzi_ , he said his name was. Meta Knight knew the language and which region he came from, but that didn't salvage their relationship at all. From the time they met, Meta Knight could hear lightning crackling in the background.

"Are you insinuating the fact that I'm _not_?" His tone came out more than accusatory. It felt justifiable.

"When did I ever imply that? I just said _we're_ the _most_ familiar with those. You knights are really stuck up on being on a pedestal above others, huh?" Danzi kicked his feet in the air.

Meta Knight stiffened. "We're not _all_ like what you just said."

"Hm, maybe not. But you are, at the very least."

"I'd find your criticism more credible if you weren't just an underling of that lazy lout."

"Oho."

It wasn't even a proper refute but it still fed the flames of irritation inside him. To console himself, Meta Knight was sure that Danzi was equally as feather-ruffled as he was at the knight's presence. The frustration had to be mutual and as long as he was causing some distress in the other party that was satisfying enough.

This was all in consolation for himself.

Meta Knight turned to glance down the hallway. If anything, his encounter with Danzi had invigorated him and he was pretty sure he could press on—or return to the room before he could feel any worse again. He knew he was pushing himself, but to just idle around when things were going on was not what he was used to.

"Oh, but I didn't know you were allowed to be out yet," Danzi continued. Meta Knight took the fact that he wasn't the one to keep the conversation running as a victory for him. "Since you look awful. I bet you aren't taking your meds."

"Pills with unknown substances? I would rather not."

"Pills the doc prescribed. Same doc that saved a lot of lives in this castle, you know." Danzi snorted. "Well, you wouldn't know. If you actually want to stay decently alive, you should probably listen to an expert's advice instead of going with your gut feeling. That'll hardly get you anywhere."

"It's gotten me somewhere in all the years of my life."

"Hm, well, not very far, as we can all see."

"Better than a lowly minion, I can safely say."

The waddle doo lifted himself off the table to raise his chin up defiantly towards Meta Knight, but said nothing. Meta Knight forced a smile back even though Danzi couldn't see it, then turned back to the endless hallway. The shadows loomed more invitingly than before.

Maybe you could have said it was a battle of wits. If Danzi didn't have anything in reply, then it'd have to be Meta Knight's win. He felt triumphant with that alone. Now he had to continue before he got caught; not up the same way so it wouldn't look like he was deliberately turning back after running into the waddle doo.

He started forward in search for a route back up. The castle had plenty of alternative routes scattered everywhere. It was just a matter of finding them.

"Huh? Whozzat? Isn't everyone over—?"

Meta Knight froze. Then his head turned mechanically, like painfully designed clockwork.

Behind, Kirby tilted his head.

"Wait, uh… Meta? What are you doing out here? Didn't the doctor ask you to stay in bed?" He could almost _feel_ Danzi's growing smug smile on him. "Wait, that _is_ Meta, right?"

Waddle doos could smile the most triumphantly out of any species out there on Pop Star, Meta Knight knew it. He just saw it. "Aww, Meta! You're supposed to be in bed? Why've you been wandering around here for so long, then?"

Oh my god. "I was merely trying to find—"

"Pretty sure you'll collapse again if you don't take the doc's advice!" he continued trilling.

If Kirby weren't around, Meta Knight would've started rounding on the waddle doo about how nobody even knew the proper causes of his unconscious state, how ingesting pills with essentially-poison was bound to bite back at you later on in your years, and how the waddle doo himself was bald, even though if it was unrelated. He was sure Kirby would suplex him out of the window if he did. The pink puffball never enjoyed squabbles.

Said hero was already halfway up to Meta Knight and pulling him by the hand like he was a babbling baby towards the stairs. "Right, Meta, I know you're scared of needles or something—"

"I do not have a fear of needles." That had been caused by a misunderstanding.

"—but the doc, he actually knows what he's saying, so you should listen to him. C'mon, hurry up, let's go back up there." Kirby turned and to look at Danzi, slowing his pace by a fraction. "Also, Mr Baldy, why aren't you—? I mean, why are you here? Everyone else is at the meeting."

In that moment, Meta Knight swore he saw Danzi blinking over at him. It was gone in the next. "Not interested."

"...Huh." Danzi was out of their sight, and Kirby marched up the stairs.

That just brought up more unanswered questions. Kirby knew what was going on at the castle. And from what it sounded like, the rest of the minions were cooped up in some meeting—well, that answered the question as to why he hadn't seen any minion around apart from the ones guarding the more important-looking doors, Kirby's presence answered some unanswered questions.

A meeting that required almost all the minions to be together at once—Meta Knight had done such a thing before in the Halberd. And so he knew the nature of the meeting that they had to be holding: important and urgent. Had to be kept a secret? That was a fifty-fifty. Although, since the castle was rife with that amount of minions, the chances of information leakage was high, and whoever was holding the meeting probably wasn't going to take that risk. Whatever the meeting was about probably wasn't top-secret.

Kirby was in front of him the whole time. Meta Knight wondered why he didn't just ask straight away. He really was horrible with people, as much as he didn't like to admit it.

They came up the last flight of stairs—Meta Knight counted—before he finally asked, "You said there was a meeting."

Kirby turned back a little and looked a bit surprised, but nothing dramatic. "Huh? Oh, that. Yeah, I did say that."

"Is it for the minions?"

"Yup. That's why none of them are around. There are a few, I mean, but only around the stuff that needs to be guarded all the time. And Bandana noticed the bald waddle doo was missing, so I came to look for him in case something happened."

Turned out "the bald waddle doo" was just skiving. "You didn't urge him to go back."

"I tried to! He didn't want to." Meta Knight felt like chiding him Kirby, if you don't have the determination for this you're not up for anything, but he didn't think he was in a position to do any lecturing. "Besides, half of it is your fault. My top priority is dragging you back and making sure that you don't go off and die just because you're being stubborn as usual!"

Oh, so it was _his_ fault now?

…

Actually, it was.

"Persuading him would've taken less than a minute," Meta Knight pointed out. Kirby had the head of the minions and the king on his side. Dishing out some threats wouldn't be hard, if the waddle doo even wanted to keep his job.

"And people take less than a second to die. Just be obedient and stay in bed."

Out of respect, Meta Knight chose not to respond.

When they reached the room, which was in the middle of nowhere and definitely not even close to where the other wards were, Meta Knight waddled back to the bed and swathed himself in the blanket before Kirby could jump and start clinging to him like the skinship-friendly child he was. Also the kind of child Meta Knight wanted nothing to do with. Kirby fiddle-faddled with the objects in the room, knocking over a capped bottle in the process, and then rearranged them in a closer position to Meta Knight. Meta Knight contemplated on telling Kirby he wouldn't be using them.

Kirby then turned on his heel and spun towards the open door. Meta Knight blinked. The pink puffball had seemed distracted in the last few minutes, but he wasn't even going to say a word of farewell?

"Kirby," he said, and Kirby paused stiffly in his tracks, "a moment, if you will."

Kirby furrowed his brows in confusion but he was beaming again in the next second. "Ooh, what's this? Meta Knight, do you finally need a bedtime story? I have plenty! What do you want to hear? Oh! The one with the troll under the bridge was always my favourite!"

"Well, no. A question about the day you saw me attacked."

The smile immediately dropped all the way into a frown. "What's this? Meta, your bedtime story tastes are really questionable…"

He was treading on sensitive ground, then. There were two ways Meta Knight could think of that this situation would play out. One was Kirby cooperating and the other was him not. The result of either would tell him more, even if him not cooperating would make him lose out on a lot more information. If Kirby wasn't fine with such a question, it'd be clear that something more impactful than just that happened at that time or on that day.

Kirby hung by the door expressionlessly while Meta Knight squeezed his hands into fists and waited for an answer.

"I'm part of the meeting too, so…"

Oh?

"But I guess I can answer some questions since you're so anxious about it!"

What?

Kirby bounded over eagerly after pushing the door to an ajar. "So? What's up? Just in case you wanna know, I was by myself when I saw you getting hit by that thing, so, no, there aren't any other witnesses. Well, if there are, they weren't close by and I couldn't see them!" He plopped down on the rotating chair next to the bed.

Oh. But there was still a chance that Kirby just didn't see any other witnesses, right? As big as the castle was, there were more than enough minions around. He doubted a place could be almost empty at any time of the day.

"Can't you tell me more about the incident? Any detail is fine."

"Any detail..? Even if you say that, I can't really think of anything…" Kirby cocked his head sideways musingly. "Erm… it hit you pretty hard, I guess. Looked hard enough to kill. You almost died. For two whole days I actually thought you weren't gonna make it."

He winced. If it had been intending to kill, he was pretty fortunate he got away with his life, then… He was a knight, no doubt, but he'd been more trained to dodge hits than to take them. It was an embarrassment to have been taken off guard and knocked out like that at all. The only time that had happened was a long time ago in his rookie days.

"Anything else?"

"Not really. I ran the moment I saw you being attacked, and once I start moving in your direction it disappeared."

"What about how it looked like? And how it teleported away?"

"I only saw it for a moment, so even I don't really remember, okay?" Kirby sighed and shuffled his feet on the floor. "It was dark purple and really big. A lot bigger than you. And it had these really grisly claws… it had light blue hands and they were big. Really big."

Meta Knight rolled his eyes. "Can't you describe it more precisely? How big is really big?"

Kirby puffed his cheeks and angled the chair away. "What? What are you being so pushy for? If you really have to know, the palm itself was as big as me! And that's pretty big. It could try and crush me in its hands."

As big as Kirby?

Meta Knight stared at the pink puffball. Maybe he was a little smaller than Meta Knight himself… they weren't the same size, at any rate. "What else? Your descriptions were quite vague. They don't give a clear picture at all."

Resting his cheeks in his hands, Kirby shrugged. "I only saw it pretty much for two seconds. It looked pretty familiar, but since I didn't recognise it right away, I probably haven't seen it anywhere else before. And if anyone could recognise anything, it'd be me! I've travelled the worlds before, after all!"

Meta Knight let his gaze linger on Kirby. Two seconds. Then three. After the fourth, Kirby was smiling with a hint of nervousness. His golden eyes remained unblinking, then he finally tore it away to look at the door.

"I see. Thank you. That's all."

"That's all?"

"That's all."

Kirby sighed. "Meta, this is the part where you ask for your friend to stay for conversation. You need more friends than just me, you know!"

He pressed his lips together. "I _do_ have them."

Turning the chair around, Kirby propped himself up on the backrest of the chair. "Have what?"

"...Friends." It jaggedly rolled off his tongue.

"Bandy and Deds don't really count. You hardly even talk to them outside of work or saving of worlds… plus, Bandy's scared of you. What sort of good friend scares their own friend?"

Meta Knight found the wall opposite him very interesting suddenly. "I didn't mean them. I have those in the crew."

He already knew from Kirby's face the next line was going to be I don't think a boss and his underling can have that kind of friendship, Meta, but even if Kirby was thinking it, he didn't say it. Probably just because the pink puffball didn't want to cut too deep, although he did leave scathing wounds sometimes.

"Be quiet," Meta Knight muttered begrudgingly, even though Kirby hadn't spoken.

"Of course. Don't worry, I'm always quiet."

Out of all the years Meta Knight knew Kirby, puffball couldn't shut up for more than five minutes even if it cost him his life. That was just Kirby's way of speaking, so Meta Knight didn't have a right to call him out on it. If he did, he would've looked stupid.

Although… Kirby was right, to some extent. About him not trying for conversation. About him not making many fri—

"Why do you even bother?" He didn't glance back at Kirby because it would've felt weird to look at his face, but he was sure Kirby was puzzled. "I've tried to take over your home land and I've fought you more than once for unjustifiable reasons."

Kirby was silent. Then, "Uh, bother with what? Saving the world? Fighting you? That's all normal for me, after all, I'm—"

"Bother playing nice with _me_ ," Meta Knight cut in sharply. Kirby clamped his mouth shut. "When I asked you for help, it was the last chance I had, and I was sure you'd turn me away. There was every reason for you to."

"Well, then it just so happens you're really bad at reading people, Meta, but that's nothing new." Meta Knight glowered at Kirby and Kirby's hands shot up in mock surrender. "Aye, cop! I'll answer, so put the gun down!" Then his hands dropped. "Actually, I don't know how to answer! You're asking one weird question, Meta."

"Shut up."

"Fine. I guess one reason's because with all that Magolor and Lor Starcutter stuff happening, it'd be difficult for me to manage all on my own. I'm not some superhero." Wasn't he? "Bandy and Deds are really strong but they don't think straight sometimes… And! It's probably a proverb, but if it isn't, then I'll make one now: One ally gained is one enemy less!"

Meta Knight's face scrunched up, although Kirby couldn't see that through the mask. "That's not a proverb."

Folding his arms triumphantly, Kirby lifted his chin smiled. "It is now."

Whatever made Kirby happy. "And the second reason?"

Kirby always had a people skill that Meta Knight could never even dream of having. He acted silly, acted happy most of the time, became dramatic where it was appropriate, knew how to lighten things up and weave himself into someone else's life seamlessly. That alone was already a super ability—it was pretty unfair for Kirby to possess so many things and never seemed like he was missing anything.

But even under an act there was a person. Kirby had seen far more than anyone had ever needed to: creatures with twisted childhoods and abandoned dreams, people who wanted to do right but just lost something along the way, and fighting spirits of the long gone who just came back again and again because that was how unjust they felt. He never exposed that face of him. Maybe he shouldn't ever. Some things might be better lost in oblivion.

Kirby kicked his legs in the air before turning and hopping off the chair. Was he leaving?

"Meta Knight, you should have seen yourself when I first met you. I'd have to be the devil to leave you alone."

Meta Knight stared a bit longer than intended. Before he could even formulate a response in his head, Kirby whirled around and waved a stub back and forth at an erratic rate.

"Wells then, Bandy can't hold a crowd by himself so I'm gonna run back to the meeting! Stay in bed or a nasty Danzi's gonna bite!"

And then he opened the door, left, and shut it faster than he ever had when he was infiltrating those villains' castles.

Meta Knight stared at the door. This time he didn't contemplate leaving the room.

* * *

 **27 November 2017**

This chapter was ready for a few days, actually. I was just distracted with stuff so it didn't get published for a while. I might try for weekly updates on Monday? Definitely no promises, though. Making promises is a surefire way to break them.

 **DS (guest)** : Thank you! Hope I don't disappoint. And thank you for liking my OCs so far—they're somewhat a taboo in fics but I still try anyway.


	3. Chapter 3

"Is it good being out?"

"It definitely feels much better than being cooped up in the room."

"Ahaha… I suppose so. I think I'd feel pretty stifled if I was in the room for more than a day straight."

Meta Knight had been released from his prison for two days, but he hadn't gotten the chance to talk to the bandana-toting dee. Bandana Dee was surprisingly busy back the castle. Meta Knight admitted he had underestimated the waddle dee's ranking in the castle; he was just so timid and didn't look like the type to command people.

Somehow, Bandana Dee was on a break when he snagged Meta Knight and pulled him to one of the kitchens to have a break. He poured them some warm water because he didn't know which tea leaves could still be used and which couldn't—only the chef knew that, he said—and brought out some tiny biscuits with icing on top. Meta Knight liked the sugary treats much more than he was willing to say.

Bandana Dee popped a biscuit into his mouth, faltered a bit, then looked at Meta Knight right in the eyes. "Sir Meta Knight, you've been out for more than a day, but you _are_ feeling all right, yes?"

Meta Knight blinked. "Of course I am. I would be resting if I didn't feel fine."

"Um, of course you would. That's right." Bandana Dee looked at the table, but his eyes were somewhere else. Meta Knight waited for him to speak again. "Then, your crew in the Halberd must be doing fine on their own? They're actually pretty capable, right?"

"The Halberd hasn't broken done yet. I doubt they're capable of doing so."

"Oh, so it's that sort of 'capable'?" Bandana Dee suddenly straightened his back. "I don't mean that they look or seem incapable! I'm sure they're capable in their own ways, but it's just that any group would go a bit haywire if their leader wasn't around for a while. That was all I meant."

No, they were clearly pretty incapable on their own, and they couldn't really get anything done by themselves, but it was hard to break the Halberd unintentionally, and Meta Knight didn't really care for anything else apart from the Halberd. His crew wouldn't stupidly go off and die on their on. He trusted them _that_ much, at least. Bandana Dee was just being overly considerate as he usually was, so, so Meta Knight wouldn't stick him to it.

 _"Plus, Bandy's_ scared _of you."_

...Right. There was also that he should think about.

"They'll be all right. I visited them once, the day I was released. They wrecked a few things but nothing important. And then I gave them a few instructions so they shouldn't get themselves into any trouble for the next few days."

That _should've_ alleviated some of Bandana Dee's fears, so Meta Knight was baffled when the dee only furrowed his brows even more. "Once?"

Did Bandana Dee have some sort of friendship with one of his crew members? Maybe Sailor Dee? "Yes, just once."

"Oh. And you've been in the castle the whole time you weren't in the Halberd?"

"That's about correct. I've been sleeping in the room you said I could use in the meanwhile."

Bandana Dee looked at the table and didn't say anything. He just looked at nothing with his furrowed brows and tense expression, like he was anxious about something.

Meta Knight rolled the biscuit in his hand. Kirby was the type to say whatever came to mind, and that was probably why he was the easiest to talk to. With Bandana Dee there were a lot of guessing games going on. The waddle dee would rather be polite than firmly and decisively do what he believed in, which meant he was hardly ever very honest.

He could guess, this time. With the wording and questions Bandana Dee had used.

"Is there something wrong?" he tried. Bandana Dee shook his head. "Am I imposing? If there's a problem, I'll be fine with going back to the Halberd and—"

"No, no, it's not that! You're free to stay as long as you'd like, Sir Meta Knight!" Bandana Dee blurted out, eyes shooting up. He hesitated, then continued, "I just thought it was a bit worrying to see you in the castle all the time."

"What?" How would it be worrying? If he was just staying around—oh, _no_. "I'm not planning another invasion of the castle. I've already moved on from that a long time ago and I don't have anymore interest in taking over Dream Land."

"It's not that either!" Bandana Dee popped a biscuit into his mouth and chewed on it vigorously. "You always hated the castle, you know, and you were never in for long, and when you were it was only because you had to and not because you were just paying a visit, so it just doesn't make any sense to me when you're willingly staying in this castle."

...Oh. He supposed he hadn't explained his objectives to any of his allies. There hadn't been a particular need to keep it a secret or announce it to them, Meta Knight felt. From Bandana Dee's perspective, it _would_ be a bit strange for Meta Knight to be wandering around in a castle, rife with the creatures he had once said he despised for being so languid.

Well, there was no loss even if he told Bandana Dee. "I'm investigating about the incident that put me out of commission for a while. It's not safe to leave a mystery unattended. There may have been more witnesses in the castle, so I've been asking around. That's all there is to it."

Bandana Dee's eyes lit up; more accurately, the fog of doubt in them lifted. "Oh, you're just investigating about that incident… so that's why you're staying in the castle…"

"Yes. What did you think I was staying in the castle for?"

"Erm, I thought—" Bandana Dee's hand hovered over a biscuit like he wanted to take it to distract himself first before answering any question. He angled his head downwards, then continued, "I thought you might've been feeling feverish, or something. Because! The doctor's told me before that feverish people tend to do out-of-character things, and you were definitely doing something out of character, so I thought you might still be sick even after resting for a long while!"

Meta Knight stared. "You thought a few of my screws had loosened because I was ill."

The waddle dee laughed uncertainly. "Some… Something like that?"

Meta Knight sighed and turned his head away.

The silence stretched on. Bandana Dee scratched his cheek. "W… Well, in any case, it looks like you're fine, after all. It was just a misunderstanding on my part… haha."

"I am not that weak, Bandana Dee," Meta Knight said, like it was a reminder.

"No, I don't think you're weak. That wasn't what I meant… actually, never mind."

Actually, never mind. Behind his mask, Meta Knight frowned. He wasn't intentionally scaring Bandana Dee. He didn't _want_ to scare the dee. Bandana Dee was timid, but he was earnest and a good person in the end. Kirby's words still rang clear, and Meta Knight had been hoping to clear anything between him and Bandana Dee up with this meeting.

Maybe he really was just no good with people.

That was right. Some skills people were just born with, and some skills people couldn't master no matter how hard they tried. There was nothing worse than acknowledging _you can't do it even if you try_ , but Meta Knight squeezed his fists. It was fine. He was a knight. First and foremost, he protected people, not befriended them.

"There was a meeting for the minions a few days ago, wasn't there? Almost everyone was present. The castle was almost empty." He'd gotten some vague context from Kirby, but he never heard the actual subject of it.

"A meeting a few days ago?" Bandana Dee looked up immediately. "Yes, that's right. That must've been on the day you were still cooped up in that small room. We had a meeting because we were changing some of our protocols and there were other some important announcements we had to make regarding castle duties."

Castle protocols… pretty important, then. "But there were people who didn't attend." The guards, and Danzi, who skipped it because he hadn't felt up to it. He wouldn't be surprised if others hadn't shown up, too.

"It's hard to have a full attendance for the entire castle all at once, so we had separate, shorter briefings for those who didn't show up."

So that everyone got the message in the end. "And Kirby was part of this meeting?"

Bandana Dee tilted his head. "Well… he wasn't _officially_ part of the meeting since he doesn't have any affiliation to the castle… but he helped to round them up and shush them when they got rowdy. He stayed throughout the meeting, though he left a few times to look for those who were absent without valid reason."

It wasn't strange, if Bandana Dee said that, that Meta Knight was out of the loop. The castle matters didn't concern him, and everyone around him knew that. Normally, he stayed _away_ from the castle, too, so if there were any internal affairs within the castle, he'd be the last to know. _If_ the news ever reached him.

Meta Knight propped himself up on the table. It had been two days of searching around the castle—looking at the crime scene itself and not just pestering passing minions—and he'd come up with absolutely nothing. The fact that this strange assailant hadn't reappeared and that there were no otherworldly occurrences happening in the castle or even in the village wasn't helping. Was there a villain on the move? Or was there not?

Bandana Dee—not just him, Kirby and the king as well—didn't seem too bothered about it. _Shouldn't_ they be bothered about it? Kirby had a bad habit of only saving the world once the villain's plan had already been pushed into execution, so that, maybe, was why he wasn't perturbed at all, but the jittery Bandana Dee _had_ to be somewhat concerned.

Then he'd just have to ask flat-out. "Bandana Dee, about that day when I—"

"Bandana Dee? Captain Bandana? Are you in here?"

Someone from outside the kitchen was calling. They sounded close by. Bandana Dee jumped out of his seat, looking frazzled. "Yes, I am—why? Is something wrong?"

From the side of the doorway, a sir kibble peeked out. His head tilted to Meta Knight, started a bit, before looking back at Bandana Dee. "Erm… this kitchen's supposed to be used for cooking today… I thought it was booked? Did I get the timing wrong?"

"It's booked?" Bandana Dee tilted his head in apology towards Meta Knight for the interruption, then looked at the paper stuck on the wall with blue-tac, then up at the clock. Then back at the paper. "I, um, must've misread the timing. My bad." He laughed, scratching his cheek again nervously. "Um, well, let's go, Sir Meta Knight. We can find another place to sit down and relax."

Could talking to Meta Knight even be described as relaxing? Just as he stood up, too, the sir kibble jumped completely in front of the doorway, arms raised in urgency.

"Oh, no need! Actually, it might be a good thing that the both of you are here. We're facing it a bit of a problem, you see, Captain Bandana. A cooking problem," the sir kibble explained, looking to his left, where he had come from.

Meta Knight glanced at Bandana Dee. Bandana Dee looked back at him, looking just as confused as he was. "I'm not really a good cook."

"But we _really_ don't know what to do with this one," the sir kibble said, desperation clinging to his voice.

"I don't think either of us would, either. If they're free, you can call one of the chefs—"

"The chefs can't help! It's not a skill problem, you see, it's a bit of a…" the sir kibble was probably making a face under that mask, judging from his tone, "...a problem."

Back in the Halberd, anyone would've been terribly chastised if they were going to be so vague like that. Bandana Dee didn't look annoyed at all at the beating-around-the-bush, though. No, the waddle dee just looked awfully frazzled. He tilted his head and scratched it. "Er..?"

The sir kibble turned to his left and nodded. Then he took a few steps back, leaving the doorway empty. Out of reflex, Meta Knight's hand shot to Galaxia's hilt. In turn, Bandana Dee's hand shot out to Meta Knight's shot-out hand and clenched it over in a warning grip. The waddle dee was surprisingly protective over the other minions.

Four waddle dees walked in carrying the biggest tuna Meta Knight had ever seen.

"We got a really good catch today, but…" the sir kibble was saying, rubbing the back of his helmet while he followed the gargantuan tuna in, "...I guess some things aren't really a blessing when they're _too_ good, eh?" Meta Knight sized it up from where he sat and even inched back a little. The huge big, glassy eyes were freaking him out. "Normally, it'd be a good thing, but there's already enough food for all of us for the next few weeks. No one's gonna want a giant fish to finish."

"Then just eat it," Bandana Dee said blankly, still not understanding the problem. "All you have to do first is cook… it. How _are_ you going to cook it?!"

"Never mind the cooking," Meta Knight said dryly. "No amount of people can eat this whole thing and not get sick of it."

Bandana Dee reached forward to grab the plate of biscuits and their cups, twisting around to place them near the sink behind him. The waddle dees dumped the fish on the table and some of the slime splattered onto Meta Knight's arms and undoubtedly his mask—he'd have to clean it later. Even on the table, the head and tail were still dangling off the edges.

A beast. A phenomenal _beast_.

The waddle dees paled and looked at each other. The sir kibble's hand dropped back to his side. "Ah… ha. Maybe we should've just put it back in the water?"

"Seems like it," one of the waddle dee groused. "It's making so many problems."

"So it was a waste for us to carry it all the way back here in the end…"

In a split second, Bandana Dee tossed Meta Knight a fervent look Meta Knight could not hope to understand, and then looked back at the minions with a fiercer gaze.

"That's not true! It was a big catch, and… the both of us, we'll," Bandana Dee blurted out, grabbing Meta Knight's arm and tugging it, "find some way for you guys to eat it without feeling like vomiting afterwards."

Meta Knight shot Bandana Dee an incredulous look. _We'll_?

Meanwhile, he could see the waddle dees' eyes sparkling. He couldn't see the sir kibble's expression, but it was probably as blinding as the rest of them. His eye twitched. Bandana Dee's smile was pulled taut.

"You will, Captain Bandana?" The sir kibble sounded so hopeful it was giving Meta Knight whiplash.

"Yeah! Leave it to me. Er, to us," Bandana Dee corrected. Meta Knight jerked his arm back to himself. Bandana Dee didn't seem fazed. "We'll work it out. Don't worry about it."

"Really?!" one of the waddle dees squealed. "Captain Bandana! You're the best!"

"Uh-huh! I'm glad you're our leader!"

"And, uh, thanks to you too, er…"

"Sir Meta Knight," Bandana Dee provided when he saw the minion squinting.

For the first time since they came in, the waddle dees' shoulders all started upwards like they were shocked by a volt. Their faces were already pale, but somehow it blanched even more to a ghostly white. Simultaneously, they took a step backwards, almost like natural clockwork, arms lifted like they were about to swing into motion to start running. The sir kibble had a different yet equally disheartening reaction: he stopped moving entirely and stood frozen like a clunk of armour just on display. Frozen out of shock or fear, the difference didn't really matter in this situation.

Meta Knight wanted to sigh but he found he could only do it internally. He fidgeted. Looked down at the silver scales of the fish. Most of them didn't know what he looked like. That only became apparent to him when he had been going on his rounds within the castle, and, well… just now. Those who recognised him… the reaction was never good. Nothing had stirred up, though, because none of them were bold enough to confront him.

Slowly, Bandana Dee turned to Meta Knight. Uncertainty was vivid. _Maybe I shouldn't have said that,_ he looked like he was trying to say.

"But, uh…" the sir kibble spoke up, "if… if he's going out of his way to help us, then… he's, probably not such a bad person like all the rumours are saying… right? H-Heh."

"I guess—and, he's friends with Captain Bandana, isn't he?"

"Ah! Then, that means all that happened in the past were just misunderstandings for the most part, right?"

And just like that, without having to step in, the waddle dees were all relaxed and cheerily grinning again. The sir kibble waved his arms in relief. They were laughing amongst themselves again.

Meta Knight stared. How… surprisingly easy to placate.

Bandana Dee suddenly prodded Meta Knight's side. He almost choked on his spit and eyed Bandana Dee. The waddle dee lifted his chin at the minions, and Meta Knight eyed him a little longer before sighing and turning to look at the fish again.

"Most of it was a misunderstanding," he said, hoping that was what Bandana Dee wanted to hear. "...I apologise if I scared any of you at that time."

The waddle dees carried their trademark, delighted expression and were nudging each other, speaking in a different language from what Meta Knight knew. Native language. Some of the minions were born in Dream Land, but there were others who moved over from other countries because being a minion at the castle was a job with absolutely no criteria. An example had to be… that awful bald waddle doo.

Meta Knight glared at the tuna's head. He just put himself in a bad mood thinking about that devil spawn.

"We gotta get back to duty now, Captain Bandana," the sir kibble said, walking back towards the door with a wave of his hand. "Call us when the food's ready!"

"Oh—yeah! Although it might only be ready by tomorrow."

The sir kibble and the waddle dee walked out of the kitchen and to the left. Meta Knight slouched in his seat, the beast of a fish covering most of his view, and listened to their footsteps until they faded away into silence. The lamp overhead buzzed once or twice, and there was the constant whirring of machines present everywhere in the castle, but it was quiet otherwise. He was used to silence. It was silent all the time in the Halberd control room, where he'd resigned his life to. After all, it was always him alone in there. In a way, it was kind of like he was alone at that moment—

Meta Knight turned to check if Bandana Dee was still there or if he'd somehow teleported away. The waddle dee was staring intensely at the tuna.

"Bandana Dee, it won't cook even if you glare at it like that."

Bandana Dee jumped, almost toppling over in his seat but catching himself with the table's edge. His hands slid against the tuna, and he lifted them up to inspect the grime. Meta Knight didn't miss him squinting.

"I wasn't trying to cook it, Sir Meta Knight… I was just wondering what sort of food would go well with, erm, tuna. I don't eat it that much."

Would _anything_ go well with _that_ amount of tuna..? He was irked. "I don't, either."

A short silence.

"W-Well, even if _we_ don't, I know some people who do!" Bandana Dee slid out of his seat and hopped onto the ground, clenching his fist in enthusiastic confidence. "So, Sir Meta Knight, if you would, please look for them—"

"Wait a moment. Why am _I_ helping?"

Bandana Dee flinched and shrunk backwards. Meta Knight blinked then angled his head away. In guilt, for the most part, but Bandana Dee probably didn't know that.

"Those minions just now… they were scared of you at first, right? But once I said you'd help them—ah, _us_ —they suddenly thought you weren't a bad person, so if you _did_ actually help…" Bandana Dee was talking at the speed of a runaway train, "...they'd probably just think everything you did in the past was just a huge misunderstanding or just a mistake."

 _I thought he was scared of me._

"And then! They won't be scared of you anymore! ...I think that's how it'll work?"

 _Why's he even trying to help then—?_

Meta Knight looked back at Bandana Dee's eyes, frantic and almost pleading. Even then, it would be a huge waste of time. He didn't have time to come to the aid of a bundle of minions who wanted to have a cheap banquet. He had a mystery to solve and possibly a world to protect. There wasn't much allowance when it came to villains. Villains didn't _wait_ for you to throw a banquet, and then _wait_ for you to snuff out their tracks, and _then_ begin their world domination plans when it was already too late to be executed safely.

And not being feared by the minions wasn't much merit. This was the only time he was ever going to mingle with them so much. After he put the pieces together, he already resolved to go back to travelling around Pop Star on his Halberd and continue picking up jobs. His ordinary, daily life, put simply.

"...Fine," Meta Knight huffed. "I'll help."

Bandana Dee's eyes were _shining_. Meta Knight averted his eyes out of embarrassment. "That's—That's great! Thank you, Sir Meta Knight! It'll be much easier with your help!"

"You're talking too loudly." Pause. "...You can drop the 'Sir' when you address me."

"Ah, okay, Si—Meta Knight!" Habits die hard, he supposed. Not just old ones. "So, if we're going to set up a meal with a big tuna, then I think it's best if we ask those two hunters that visit the castle pretty often. You must've heard of them?"

"I haven't."

"Oh. Er." Bandana Dee rubbed his head. "It's fine! They're very recognisable. Both of them have these huge bows and quivers with them all the time. And their cheeks"—Bandana Dee patted the orange patches on his face—"they're dark blue. It's painted over; you can kind of tell. They're Ody and Yanne. Siblings from a clan."

A strange description. He felt like he'd heard those names before—

He _had_. The day he woke up, when the doctor left him alone for a bit. One of them was staring through the crack the ajar door had left. Meta Knight's head lifted. At least he had an appearance to go by—that'd make searching much easier.

"Okay. Leave it to me, then."

Bandana Dee clapped his hands in elation. "Thank you! I heard they're here today, but they'll be leaving by the evening, so you have to find them quickly. I'll find someone who can actually deal with this… er… fish."

"Good luck with that," Meta Knight said dryly.

"Yeah, I'll probably need some _really_ good luck, wouldn't I…"

Although the Sun had only risen a few hours ago, Meta Knight got up and set out on his search.

* * *

 **3 December 2017**

Well, would you look at that; it's December already.

Again, this chapter has a lot of talking. For my own reasons I'm excited for the next chapter. Meta will also finally be putting those feet to good work.

(Also, I think I'll actually be able to update on Mondays consistently for this. Aren't I doing a good job of this? I am, aren't I? I am!)

 **DS (guest)** : Thank yoooouuuu. It's not really a normal way of writing Meta, and I guessed it isn't a popular portrayal of him, either? So that's nice to hear.


	4. Chapter 4

A waddle dee with blue cheeks and a big bow. _Two_ waddle dees with blue cheeks and big bows. A waddle dee with blue cheeks and a big bow.

Somehow, Meta Knight was having no luck finding them.

He tilted his head skywards. It was nowhere near sunset, for sure, but his lack of results was making him nervous. He _had_ tried asking around, but he got more curious stares than usual. There were some who recognised him, but most hadn't seen his actual appearance. Now, though, all of them seemed to know who he was—but they weren't having any sort of negative reaction. Only surprise, then hesitance, and sometimes he didn't get an answer.

It was probably the four waddle dees and that sir kibble. Some minions were quiet. Some ran their mouths like a forgotten tap. Considering how many of them there were, it wouldn't be shocking to find out that rumours spread quickly throughout the castle. ...Although, to be honest, he _really_ hadn't pegged waddle dees to be the gossip type.

Up ahead was a courtyard. Meta Knight glanced over it, found no one, and swerved to avoid it immediately. No, he wasn't paranoid. He was just taking precautions. He _wasn't_ paranoid because of what had happened to him a while back. He wasn't paranoid. He. _Wasn't_.

Two waddle dees met him, and he inquired about the incident. They stared blankly at him before admitting they hadn't even known such an incident had taken place at the castle. He held his breath and asked about the hunters next. They didn't know about that, either. He let out an exaggerated sigh that didn't seem to affect them in the slightest before dismissing them. They continued striding down the path, clicking their spears against the ground with every step.

Ah, the yard was up ahead. Outside would be a nice change of pace. The castle walls always felt gloomy. It probably affected the minions' morale, too.

It was quiet outside, though there was laundry dangling by the poles in one corner of the yard. The air was still and he could hear the crisp crunching of grass under his feet. The buzzing of insects couldn't be heard. Not the silvery whisper of the wind, either. It was empty and devoid of any activity—just a long sea of green and the castle walls up ahead. It really was quiet. By himself, without anyone else. Strange, when he could hear even the machinery spinning its gears inside the castle. It really was _too_ quiet—

He could hear something whizzing through the air.

In a split second, he pulled Galaxia out of its sheath. The golden blade crackled to life, jolts flying as he swung it backwards in an arc behind him. A wooden arrow split into two and fell onto the ground behind him, dangerously close to his feet.

"Wha—! You killed my arrow! That's rude. They're hard to get, you know? Though…" a laugh, "you really are something! No wonder you're called Meta _Knight_ , right?"

Meta Knight's head snapped upwards. A waddle dee stood on the castle parapet of the second floor, cheeks splashed with blue and bow in hand. She had no mouth, but it was somehow still possible to tell that she was grinning from ear to ear. ...Wherever their ears were.

Lowering Galaxia, he took a step backwards from the arrow like it was still a threat. "You're one of the hunters?"

The waddle dee leapt off the parapet, landing onto the grass below without a stumble. She stood up straight, then slid the bow behind her back.

"They call us hunters in the castle! I'm Yanne. Nice to meetcha, Mister Knight!" She clapped her hands together and bowed her head a little, looking sheepish. "Sorry! I've never met a knight before, so I got really curious!"

Slowly, Meta Knight slanted Galaxia back into its sheath. "...Do you shoot things you're curious about?"

"Mm… not all the time!"

But she still did sometimes?

"So!" Yanne folded her arms and lifted her chin like she was proud of something. "I got a lot of those minions looking at me and gasping and going… 'Oh! That masked guy was looking for you!' And I didn't even know _what_ masked guy they were talking about, until I sorta forced the name out of one of the dees. Pretty roundabout, aren't they? I mean, how am I supposed to know who this masked guy is, right? I'm not even around in the castle most of the time!"

So the minions actually bothered calling out to her? _That_ surprised Meta Knight. The minions looked like they were apathetic to pretty much everything except maybe their paycheck.

"I was looking for you, or your brother—specifically, Bandana Dee wanted to find one of you," he quickly added, just so that he didn't come off as a creep. "If you're available now, that is."

"Available? I'm always available! ...is what I'd like to say." She smiled apologetically. Meta Knight already didn't like how this was going. "I was actually gonna leave when I saw you. I've gotta look for my big brother. He's out in the forest hunting now, you see, and he told me to join up with him once I was done dawdling in the castle. He's patient, but… you know! Stretch a patient person too much and they snap into two!"

She was talking… a bit too much. Far too much more than necessary. Though, Bandana Dee said they were staying until at least evening—it wasn't _anywhere_ close to evening. Trust Bandana Dee not to give him accurate information.

"It's only for a short while," Meta Knight reassured. "We wanted to know—"

"I got it!" Yanne clapped her hands again, big grin and all. This time she wasn't apologising. "You wanted to ask me… _or_ my brother something, right?"

Meta Knight blinked. "Well, yes, finding either you or your brother was—"

"Well then, that's a bit of a disappointment for you that you didn't run into my brother. He knows more than me. He knows a lot! 'Cause he's an amazing person, you see." There was a distant look in her eyes like she was fondly recalling something. "He taught me everything that I know now! So, if it's something you wanna know from us, you're actually only asking him."

She sure was making her brother out to sound amazing… Yanne herself was already skilled. Meta Knight had been trained since young to be a knight of duty and it was only expected for his battle skills to be up to par, and those expectations also included being hyper-aware of his own surroundings. Needless to say, it was surprising for her to be able to watch him from a distance, nock an arrow and let it fly almost without him noticing at all. If she had an elder brother, Meta Knight would expect the hunter to be even more formidable.

But none of this was relevant to his quest. "No, it's all right. I'm sure you'll be able to help me as well."

Yanne stared at him like _he_ was the one who was being difficult. "You're not sure about that," she drawled.

...All right, so maybe he _wasn't_. "Well, about tuna, what would be—"

"I've got two things!" Her hand shot up into the air like a student in the middle of a lesson. "The first thing is that I've got to look for my brother, and the second is that I've got an idea! Why don't you _come with me_? Then you can ask him about whatever heejabeejees you wanna know!"

Meta Knight drew backwards, startled. "Hee… hee _what_ —"

"All right, then, Mister Knight! Let's go, let's go!"

* * *

There was a forest near the cape of the village, and Meta Knight definitely hadn't been in there before. Last he heard, the forest was nothing special and the villagers themselves hardly ever visited it. Previously, he had wondered why the forest was still around, if that was the case, but it made sense—untamed forests were good hunting spots.

Good hunting spots for both the hunter _and_ the to-be-hunted, Meta Knight had learned after wandering into too many in his adventures. Hunting wasn't a common job anymore, after the introduction of farms; it was dangerous and one would never know when the animals with beastly instincts would win out over even the most skilled archer. The fauna had to have some sort of meat in their diet, one way or another, and sometimes villagers made easy targets, too. It wasn't uncommon to have mauled carcasses lying around in the thicket of trees.

Meta Knight kept a diligent hand on Galaxia, grip tightening whenever he heard the leaves rustle or twigs snapping underfoot. No matter how many times he left a forest unscathed, the clinging sense of imminent danger would never leave. It was the wild where people could die just because of bad luck.

He saw something hop in his peripheral vision and immediately whirled to glare at it. It was a squirrel scurrying on the ground. They could be vicious in Dream Land, but it would take a whole horde of them to kill a villager. Nothing dangerous. He turned back to face Yanne's back.

"Mister Knight, you're way too uptight! You gotta relax and kill stuff only when they jump out," Yanne laughed from in front. If you don't relax, you won't be able to hear the danger from a mile away!"

Was that the way hunters did it? Seemed too reckless. Meta Knight continued to let his hand hover over Galaxia silently.

From outside, the forest had looked almost welcoming. Now that he was actually inside… even the branches of the trees looked like menacing claws tearing at the sky through its leaves. It didn't help that they hadn't brought a lamp, and some places of the forest had trees with especially thick canopies. Sunlight didn't stream down in those areas, and the darkness only made him more paranoid.

Something cracked underfoot. He started, shoulders jumping upwards. He looked down. Just twigs. When he looked back up, he found animals scattering in front of them, darting into bushes and into the ground like they were avoiding something.

"Is something wrong?" Meta Knight asked tersely.

Yanne hummed. "What? What would be wrong?"

"The animals. They're all running from something."

"Hm, the animals? Of course they are!" Yanne turned her head backwards by a fraction with a wide grin. "Things here get eaten and hunted every day, you know, so they're wary of just about any unnatural sound. You just stepped on some twigs, so they got scared."

They weren't hunting, but it still prickled at Meta Knight it was _his_ fault for startling them away. "That doesn't make sense, though. We've been stepping on the grass loudly the whole time. Wouldn't they have picked up on that?"

"Anything can step on grass, but you'd have to be pretty heavy to snap twigs. Heavy stuff means big stuff, and big stuff means predators. They've all got their own survival instincts. It makes hunting fun!"

...Was he overthinking things, or did she just call him fat?

When Meta Knight didn't respond after a stretch of silence, Yanne looked forward again. Out of nowhere, she halted in her tracks and Meta Knight quickly mimicked her action. Why did she pause? Was something wrong?

"Brody!" she whooped, clapping her hands and scurrying forward, leaping over the large, grey rocks lithely.

Meta Knight stepped forward in an effort to follow her—but then he saw something whizz past Yanne's form, directly at him. Sharp and pointed—his instincts screamed at him to dodge swiftly, and he stood, frozen for a split moment. It was thin and stick-like; he couldn't even see the end of it, just the front, and it was zooming right to the middle of his mask, in between his eyes. There wasn't any optimal action to take to dodge this one.

He jerked his head to the right, but the sharp end of the weapon still screeched against the left cheek of his mask. It was almost as if he could feel the air breezing past along with it. But it was all only momentary; the next second, it hurtled down through the air way past him, and something let out a pained cry behind him.

His breath settled down; actually, he hadn't even realised it had sped up frighteningly. Meta Knight knew what that was; Yanne had just shot one at him earlier. Well, didn't arrows _love_ him today…

"Ooh, that was great, Mister Knight!" Yanne cheered, jumping from her spot on top of one of those large rocks. "Not as cool as the time you sliced my arrow in half, though. At least this arrow's not wasted!"

Beside her, on the ground, was another waddle dee that looked strikingly similar to her. Dark blue cheeks, large quiver on his back. There were two different things about this one: he had a feather crown perched on his head, feathers black with cerulean tips, and a distinct lack of joy, which was a complete contrast to Yanne's (constant) expression.

That. He had to be the waddle dee that had been eyeing him on his first day awake. Ody.

Ody lowered his bow, looking up at Meta Knight simultaneously. There was a long moment of frigid silence, then Ody darted past the rocks, towards Meta Knight, brows still straightened.

He wasn't saying anything, only walking. Meta Knight cleared his throat. "You must be Ody."

The waddle dee walked right past Meta Knight.

Meta Knight blinked.

"Oddyyy," Yanne whined, "I brought him all the way here for a reason! Don't ignore 'im!"

Meta Knight turned around to follow Ody's form. The hunter was bent over a large, brown, furry animal, lying on its side. The arrow was sticking out of its open side, thick red liquid trickling from where its skin was punctured. Effortlessly, Ody grabbed the arrow and pulled it out, blood flecking, wiped it off on a large leaf nearby, and then slid it back into his quiver.

The arrow hadn't been meant for Meta Knight, after all. His anxiety dissipated. Ody lifted the animal's muzzle up, checking it over, then placed a hand on its chest. After a moment of silence, he looked up at Meta Knight.

"You. You are here for a favour from me?"

It could've been Yanne, too, but… "You could say that."

"Then, you will do me a favour first. Bring out your sword and kill this beast."

Reflexively, his hand jumped to Galaxia. Kill it? Him? He was used to death and killing, but the request was a little sudden.

"Ody! Where's your own dagger? We don't have time to waste!" For once, Yanne was saying something sensible. "I'm hungry and wanna eat!" ...Maybe not.

"It is too dull to be used at the moment." Ody's stare hardened. "Now, will you help us or will you not?"

Galaxia, used for hunting, of all things… Ody's words made him think—Galaxia never dulled. Galaxia was a legendary sword that didn't have a form unless a worthy wielder grabbed hold of it, and he'd used it his whole life, so the dulling of blades never really concerned or bothered him. If he was going to be asked to use his blessing, it'd be hard to say no.

Unsheathing his sword, sparks flew, and Galaxia's golden blade formed, glinting white in the sunlight. Ody observed it wordlessly, as if he was thoroughly analysing it, then lifted the animal's muzzle even higher and twisted its head slightly.

"Around here," he said, drawing a line across the animal's throat, "would be a decisive place."

The neck… of course it would be, arteries and windpipe and all. Prodding the tip of Galaxia on one end of it, he dragged it through its flesh, blood leaking out as it went, like a creek forming. He arced the wound around the bottom of its neck, and then pulled it out after he thought it was enough. Ody's hand, still on the animal's chest, dropped to the ground.

"What sort of favour do you want from us?" the waddle dee inquired, with a hint of hostility and wariness in the bottom of his eyes. Appearances aside, it would be hard to tell that he and Yanne were siblings.

"Just some information," Meta Knight replied, imitating Ody's actions and cleaning Galaxia off on a wide leaf that hung from the tree next to him. "It isn't much."

Ody fell completely silent again.

Well, he definitely didn't take to Meta Knight immediately. Actually, although no threatening words were exchanged, Ody still didn't seem too fond of Meta Knight. Right off the bat he demanded a favour in return for the favour he knew Meta Knight was going to ask of them; he clearly had not much of a gracious spirit in him. Ody was much too cautious. Much more warrior-like than Yanne seemed, although their actual capabilities as hunters were independent of those variables, he had to say.

And… that look Ody had been giving him since they met. Nothing amiable, nothing light, nothing kind. Just dark suspicion.

"I set up a camp further in the forest," Ody finally said. "Yanne, carry the beast. I will lead the both of you there. Unless you do not wish to accompany us there, Knight."

"Ooookay!" Yanne chirped, hopping over the rocks and to their side.

Her brother didn't wait. Ody stepped over the carcass and walked in the direction they had originally been proceeding in, as if he had no business with anything there anymore. He hadn't completely ignored Meta Knight's request, had he? Meta Knight glanced back at Yanne, but she only grinned widely and nodded, lifting the hunk of meat up on her shoulders.

When he looked back front, Ody was already paces in front of them. Meta Knight jogged forward, abruptly slowing two feet away from Ody, and then kept his pace consistent with the waddle dee in front of him. Ody made no acknowledgement of it, didn't even pop a word, so Meta Knight cleared his throat.

"Would now be a good time to ask you?"

"Anytime would. I owe you a favour."

Compared to the waddle dees in the castle, Ody was a lot more… dignified. Meta Knight knew he wasn't from around these parts, and he had met stranger waddle dees in his travels, but it still gave him whiplash.

"Thank you. It might sound silly, but do you know what would go well with tuna?"

Ody's footsteps came to a halt. Meta Knight immediately followed his action, confused. Behind him, he could've sworn he heard Yanne stifling a squeak of laughter.

"...Tuna?"

Meta Knight blinked. "Er, yes? The fish."

"...The fish." Ody's tone was surprisingly lacking.

Meta Knight resisted the urge to fidget. "Yes. Are you unfamiliar with them?"

"...No. I am familiar with them." Ody twisted his head backwards. He almost looked… _confused_. His pace started again, and Meta Knight obediently followed behind him. "It may have been rude of me to assume, but knowing that you are a _knight_ , I had thought you were going to ask something of… more substance. Such as, perhaps, maybe about the day of your awakening."

"Normally, I wouldn't ask this sort of thing, but I'm here as per a friend's request." Meta Knight glanced up at the thick leaves overlapping each other. It was getting darker in the forest itself, but it was probably bright as ever outside. The leaves would block out some rain, although not completely. That trait made it good for camping underneath… wait a moment. "The day of my awakening?"

Ody didn't look back. "Yes. Although we are not castle staff, we were present there in those few days, so, naturally we heard of the news as well."

If they were in… Meta Knight had spent the whole time he had been awake looking for information, but he hadn't gotten _anything_ out of anyone. After he found Yanne, he'd momentarily forgotten about it. If it was someone as sharp as Ody, maybe he had noticed something. Meta Knight held his breath.

"I would like to ask about that as well, if you don't mind," he said, and hoped the waddle dee wouldn't take it as Meta Knight owing them a favour. The hunter in question didn't say a thing in response. "Do you know what happened that day?"

Ody kept walking, back facing Meta Knight. The littered rocks on the ground were clearing up, and the trees seemed to be making a unnaturally carved, straight path to a clearing up ahead. The clearing was devoid of any large objects or anything that could count as a "camp". They probably still had a ways to walk.

They took a step into the large clearing. The leaves were still bushy overhead. A good place to settle down for camp, so why didn't they?

"No, I do not." Ody stopped walking and turned around, looking at Meta Knight in the eye. "The news reached me fairly quickly, but that is all that happened."

Meta Knight's breath shuddered out. "Oh, I see."

"Yanne?" he called out to his sister, who was marching behind them jovially, dragging the carcass along the ground.

With furrowed brows, she shook her head. "Not a thing. I was with you almost the whole time! If you don't know, I wouldn't know, either!"

There went his flame of hope. Puttered out. Meta Knight turned his attention back to the clearing wordlessly. There was nothing notable about it, except a stone slab dug right in the middle of it. It was standing upright, jutted and unpolished, just in the middle of the clearing. The wind billowed past, but a leaf didn't float by.

Ody looked at him. It felt like the hostility from him had eased a little. "I apologise. We were not able to be of any help. The castle is very big, and the courtyards are usually empty. It is a miracle the hero found you in time."

"It is," Meta Knight said softly. He took a few bumbling steps forward to the stone slab. "...Perhaps there wasn't anyone else there to witness the scene. If there were, Kirby's testimony must've mentioned it. There aren't any walls blocking view in the courtyard, after all. Only some pillars."

"You do not have to be present at the scene directly to witness it somehow, young knight." It sounded like a lecture.

Feet dragged behind him, grass shuffling underneath. "Ody, are we there yet?" Yanne whined. "Look, it's a big clearing! Could've just set our stuff down here, couldn't you…"

"It's big enough and any weather ailments would be blocked out," Meta Knight pointed out to further prove her point. Yanne perked up, looking delighted at his agreement.

Ody scoffed. "The stone in the middle is a nuisance."

"Stone? What stone?" Yanne edged forward, pushing her balance onto her left foot and flailed her arms wildly. "Ah! There _is_ a stone! Yikes, that's creepy. Wouldn't wanna sleep near there. What if it's someone's grave?! Ody, let's go! I don't wanna be near a grave, okay?"

Meta Knight didn't point out that the forest where people were easily _eaten_ was not a good place for any sort of burial.

Ody didn't even grimace at her words. Meta Knight figured her brother must've already figured that she would've reacted like that and avoided pitching a tent anywhere near anything that looked weird enough to startle Yanne. To be fair, he wouldn't want to sleep near a grave, either. If he had to be fair.

"And so, young knight?" Ody said, blinking at Meta Knight owlishly. Meta Knight tilted his head, puzzled. "You were asking about tuna earlier, were you not?"

Tuna? ...Right. "Yes, I was. You see…"

No one else seemed particularly bothered. Maybe solving mysteries could wait for a while.

* * *

 **12 December 2017**

Sorry the chapter's late. I had a lot of stuff going on. Still do, actually. It was all making me feel pretty unmotivated.

Reviews make me feel completely motivated again, though! You know what to do. (definitely not shamelessly asking, why would you even say that)

By the way, because of all the recent events (a lot of stuff going on), I haven't really had the time to respond to PMs/reviews nor do I really have the energy for it. But rest assured, I've read them and I'm grateful for your reviews! Knowing about what your readers are thinking is one of the best feelings in the world, you know.


	5. Chapter 5

"The tuna looks a lot smaller once you put it on a plate, huh."

Meta Knight looked up specifically to narrow his eyes at the dee.

"That's because you invited ten more people."

"Well… they came by and asked, I couldn't turn them away…"

Bandana Dee very well could've, but Meta Knight chose not to badger him for it.

He was more bothered as to why a hairless waddle doo was sitting at one table, digging away at the tuna while listening to some of his fellow minions chatter away about something. It didn't make his stomach feel right.

It'd been two days since Meta Knight returned with a list of ingredients Yanne gleefully spewed out. Which was much longer than he anticipated, but Bandana Dee explained that because they were nearing the end of the month, the ingredients in the kitchens had depleted so they had had to set out to search for the ingredients themselves in their free time. Meta Knight had wanted to shed this situation off of him entirely, but Bandana Dee literally begged him to eat the tuna with them, since he, too, put in some effort to making the impossible dish a success. Although Meta Knight could clearly see the dee's ulterior motives, they weren't bad ones, so he (grouchily) agreed in the end.

In the two days, he'd stopped going around asking the minions for any accounts on the incident. No one had a clue, and when Meta Knight returned round to Kirby to ask the pink puffball again, Kirby could only shake his head in an apology. Working (mostly) alone was his policy, and it'd just backfired on him. He wasn't sure what to think about that.

What if that thing attacks again?

He'd considered it. He had, but…

"Meta Knight?" Bandana Dee was blinking at him curiously. "Is something wrong? Do you not like tuna after all?"

"What? ...No, no, that's not it." Bandana Dee was a hero too, right? Then he could handle Meta Knight's worry about the assailant. "I'm still unclear about how I was attacked. It's an unsolved mystery, and… a potential threat, so I've been investigating it. But so far I've come up with nothing."

"Oh, uh… I've heard you've been doing that." Bandana Dee shifted uncomfortably, poking at his piece of fish with a metal fork. "It's… We've spent some time investigating it, too. While you were unconscious. We searched the whole castle and security was really tight and everything, but it was pointless in the end. We couldn't find anything out, either."

Sometimes Meta Knight forgot that he was out of commission for around two weeks. The creature had been inactive not for a few days, but for nearly three weeks. He held in a sigh. "And?"

Bandana Dee fiddled with his cutlery. "And, that's it. We tried, too, but we couldn't find anything. It's like nothing ever happened. So, even if you ask around now, I doubt anyone will have an answer…"

"Does that mean you're giving up?"

Bandana Dee lifted his head. "...Pardon?"

Meta Knight stared, then said, "It's nothing."

Bandana Dee was silent.

A waddle dee traipsed to the tuna and began gouging it out with the serving fork. Even if he asked, Meta Knight was sure the dee wouldn't know anything about the incident, either. None of them had. For all he knew, this was a dee he'd already asked. If the failure rate was so high, normally Meta Knight would switch out to an alternative method. It was common sense not to bank on a one-percent-chance of success.

Except there was no alternative method.

As the waddle dee shook the fork to get the bits out onto the plate, Meta Knight held up a hand to get his attention. The waddle dee's head automatically swivelled in his direction curiously.

"Excuse me, do you—"

"Oh, it's Stay-in-Bed Knight."

He could feel his skin prickling at the unwelcomed voice.

"Ah, it's the hairless waddle doo. How do you do?"

The waddle dee looked incredibly confused, and Bandana Dee looked all types of horrified. Danzi smiled dryly, patted the waddle dee away, and stepped in front of the tuna with the serving fork. Meta Knight held in his breath again and left some unwanted words in his throat.

"I do quite well. So do you, I see. I'm just a bit confused." Danzi spun the serving fork in his hand. "Why does my friend over there look so blue?"

...Was that supposed to be an insult? Meta Knight thought he was good with his languages, but he didn't know what the waddle doo meant. Was it his culture thing?

"What does my body colour have to do with anything?" Meta Knight said.

"Um, I don't think this is an appropriate time to pun on my bandana…" Bandana Dee said at the same time.

Danzi blinked at them owlishly.

"Oh!" Bandana Dee yelped while the gears in Meta Knight's head ground. "That's my bad, Sir Meta Knight. I didn't know you had made friends with Danzi. You're both prickly—I mean, Danzi is—"

"Why would you call me prickly? I'm hurt."

Meta Knight breathed in. Oh. He'd made a huge misunderstanding. Then he knew what Danzi meant—why Bandana Dee looked so upset, and he knew the answer to that one too—and so the only problem was addressing it now. He thought up about several different scenarios that could play out while Bandana Dee was rambling on his unneeded apology, before squaring his shoulders and preparing to talk.

"Anyway, I don't quite think I've befriended any sort of pretentious knight," Danzi finally scoffed. "I wasn't referring to him."

Bandana Dee stopped talking and his entire being ceased motion. He tilted his head, then at Meta Knight.

Meta Knight immediately lifted his head as haughtily as he could come off, even though Bandana Dee looked like he was about to speak. "What we were talking about is none of your business."

"Is it? He's my friend, though."

For a saint like Bandana Dee to befriend such a monster was no surprise, although that was a borderline no-surprise. Meta Knight had half a mind ready to do a one-eighty and stalk off, because although it was every bit in his nature to defend himself, sometimes retreating was a necessary action in battle. The other half was ready to, well, defend himself. Because it was every bit of his nature.

Bandana Dee, obviously tensed at the prospect of two of his friends having a quibble, cleared his throat in the middle of the silence. Meta Knight turned his gaze to him, and surprisingly for Meta Knight, Danzi did the same. There was a heavy pause like Bandana Dee was unsure of what to say.

"Danzi, thank you for the concern, but I'm fine," Bandana Dee said slowly. "I wasn't upset or anything. Absolutely not—we were just discussing something about the safety of the planet and I got a little disheartened over it."

The more Bandana Dee talked, the more it made it look like Meta Knight was the bad guy, he swore.

Although he hated to admit it, Danzi was astute; he could probably figure out the truth behind the situation. Meta Knight wondered if it was a good time to cut in and add onto Bandana Dee's testimony. Would that make it sound too exaggerated? Sometimes he really envied Kirby's social skills. He could probably hop across slippery rocks in a rushing creek with them.

Then staying silent would be the better course. But that would seem like—

"Mister Kniiiiight!" sang-song someone with a hint of an accent. In the next moment, Yanne bulldozed right onto Danzi's back. The waddle doo resolutely remained standing up. "Look at the tuna! So you got it across? That's great! Aren't you glad we dropped by? I want some tuna, too! Right, Ody? Hm? Where's your mask? —Oh, it's Dan!"

"Good afternoon," Danzi said.

"Good afternoon!"

Ody followed into the room shortly after and only acknowledged them with an almost unnoticeable nod.

Bandana Dee's eyes lit up at their presence. He putted forward like he wanted to dart by their sides, but stopped short halfway, probably reconsidering Meta Knight's and Danzi's feelings. Meta Knight wasn't sure whether to tell him it didn't matter.

"Oh, Ody, Yanne," Bandana Dee greeted with his arms swinging. He adjust his bandana then placed it on the table then left it dangling by his side again.

"Yep, that's us. You could combine our names and we'd be Odyanne! Pretty cool, right? Ody, what if we got another sister?"

"That can't happen," came Ody's short reply.

Not even clearing his throat to dismiss their banter, Bandana Dee continued. Meta Knight felt like that ignoring their in-betweens was an often occurrence. "I'm glad you could make it back within a few days. I wanted you to take part in something you contributed to."

"We hardly did."

"Yanne, get off me, please," Danzi huffed from under her weight.

"Yanne, get off," Ody echoed. Yanne jumped off and landed with a heavy thud. The quiver and bow rattled on her back.

"But you still did," Bandana Dee pressed. Patiently, Meta Knight had to mentally add. "I don't think we'd be able to stomach it all if you hadn't told us to to gather those… strange mushrooms from the forest nearby."

Strange hardly covered it, Meta Knight thought. He remembered the minions bringing them back, sides heaving and coated with sweat, carrying a basket of translucent mushrooms with purple fibers swimming inside of it. In all his travels, there was hardly anything that came close.

Yanne whipped round from where she was sniffing the tuna. "They're called vengi!" she chirped, then looked at Ody for approval.

She didn't get any, but Meta Knight figured Ody was the kind of person who'd sooner do a three-sixty five times in his grave before expressing positive feelings.

Instead, he said, "You had a message for him."

Yanne stared at Ody like she genuinely had no idea what he meant before squawking excitedly, jumping around in a full turn and rattling Danzi's shoulders enthusiastically.

"The doc!" she chirped, making the most obvious waddle dee-grin Meta Knight had seen—and that was saying something, because he'd seen a lot. "The doc wanted to see you! To check up on your condition. And shizz."

Ody made a disproving sound. "Please remove that word from your vocabulary."

"Shizz."

Meta Knight lifted his head. "The doctor?"

"That's right! She said meet you by the wards. Dunno where that is, though."

Well, Meta Knight knew where that was. What would the doctor want to see him for? Post-release check-up? That wouldn't make him surprised. Although he didn't like it, making sure he was in good health certainly was safer than waddling around with maybe some sort of parasite in him. It'd happen before. Not good.

Meta Knight turned towards the doorway. Bandana Dee notably shifted. "Are you leaving already?"

He turned back round slightly. Everyone was peering curiously at him. Except Danzi. That one just looked completely disinterested. "It would be best not to delay."

"Oh. Tha—That's right." Bandana Dee looked around nervously as if readying to tell a secret, but there were that many people around. "About what you said earlier—erm, I think—" He cleared his throat. "I'll talk about it. W-With Great King, and Kirby."

...What was he referring to? They were talking for a while. Meta Knight knew that if he was being vague he probably didn't want to talk about it with everyone present. He could agree; he'd rather have the absence of Danzi, and he didn't know the hunter siblings entirely too well.

"Ohh? What's going on?" Yanne crowed, tilting her head all the way down that her body structure made a right angle. "What is this? A secret?"

"Probably," Danzi, who seemed to indulge in Yanne more than Meta Knight did, affirmed.

"Confessions? I want to know!"

"It's nothing big that you have to concern yourself with," Bandana Dee said with a less certain waddle-dee smile, putting it gently.

Yanne blinked and then righted herself. Then she spun a quick half-turn to Ody and grabbed his arm, tugging on it like a child pulling at their mother's hand. "Ody! We're still being treated like strangers! Even after all these years!" she whined.

Ody pried her off with ease.

Before Yanne could start throwing questions Meta Knight's way, he slunk out of the kitchen.

* * *

 **15 March 2018**

3 months of absence and a filler chapter to boot! Yes, this is the worst author, TechnoDee, reporting.

Well..? School happened, I have Very Important Exams this year, also I tend to lose interest and start working on something else right away... burp.

In the offchance that you're still reading this, thank you for your dedicated attention. It means a lot to a potato.


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